


Star Wars: The Beginning of the Fall

by Lavaeolous



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Canon, Canon Rewrite, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Long, Not Canon Compliant, Not Expanded Universe Compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:01:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23326678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lavaeolous/pseuds/Lavaeolous
Summary: This is Star Wars, as I would write it. I will be cheerfully ignoring cannon, but aiming for internal consistency.Characters will be warped and changed as I see fit, as will plot details both minor and major.Starting at the start of Phantom Menace, and developing from there in a retelling of the prequel trilogy.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano
Kudos: 3





	1. Tatooine

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, I'm bored and I'm doing this to amuse myself and give me something to do while my country is in lockdown.  
> This is Star Wars, as I would write it. I will be cheerfully ignoring cannon, but aiming for internal consistency. Characters will be warped and changed as I see fit, as will plot details both minor and major.  
> +++++

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.…

Anakin was a slave. His mother was a slave. His father, presumably, was a slave. As soon as he could Anakin's owner put him to work. 

The work was hard and dull. Anakin had to make the most of his small digits to remove the sand from the interior workings of cogs and electronics, then as his fingers grew bigger he used his ingenuity to make up for it. But once you've cleaned one fusebox, there isn't much variation.

Such was his life. Wake-up, work, be fed, work, be fed, work, sleep. Do it again tomorrow. Try to steal small broken things and maybe sell them on for food when sent out to receive his owner's goods once a fortnight.  
All while the twin suns poured heat down onto him, and the small shop he was confined to, making him and it reek of sweat and motor oil.

He had no knowledge of the outside world, or truly how skilled a mechanic he had become. The outside world only contained one thing he cared about, one thing both small enough to rest in his heart and tug every day and vast enough to be known by every slave and enjoyed by all others. 

Freedom.

The strangers came at night, clad in the brown robes that any sane being wore over all else in the desert.

They moved through the city directly to Anakin's shop: neither tarrying to barter in the market, or even stopping in one of the bars to drink on their journey.

'you there' the shorter of the two called 'what is your name'  
'I am called Anakin, Lord' the boy replied  
'Very well Anakin, would you care to come with us.' It wasn't a question, however politely it may have been phrased and unfortunately Anakin couldn't give the answer the strangers clearly thought was inevitable.  
He squirmed as he knew what he had to say would anger the strangers and a beating would be forthcoming.  
'I...am a slave, Lord, you would have to talk to my master'  
'Ah. We will wait for them then.'

Anakin decided not to tell them his master would not be returning for quite some time, and instead returned to working on the droids.

The strangers for their part took it stoically, moving out of the way for any customers who may have wished to enter, and standing still in their new position.

Just before sunrise Anakin's master returned.  
A bloated slug, he oozed into the shop.  
'Ah customers!' he cried with grotesque jubilation.  
He then turned and aimed a lazy punch at his slave 'And why have you been ignoring these wonderful people Ani? Hmmm?'  
The boy was winded by the punch but managed to choke out a response between hasty breaths  
'they, they were, waiting for you master'.  
'were they? And how could I help these...travelers?'

'The boy.' and at this there was a wrinkle of disdain in the shorter of the stranger's voice  
'how much.'  
'mmmmmmm….interesting. not a question I had thought about. He is a skilled and strong worker, with a good arm and a good head. Pretty too if you are into that' Watto stalled, trying to size up his new customers. 'I couldn't possibly part with him for less than...200,000 credits'.  
'50,000'

And so the haggling began, as Anakin continued to work.  
'140,000 and we take that droid'  
'Done.'  
The strangers handed Watto a card, preloaded with exactly 140,000 credits and Watto handed the strangers the remote to Anakin's collar.  
'Ani they want that droid as well.'  
Anakin ignored his former owner, and instead turned to the strangers  
'Please buy my mother as well, please. She...she's a good worker, she can look after me and her so you don't have to...she she' the child continued begging to the implacable strangers.  
The taller, moved and activated the protocol droid, instructing it to begin a basic diagnostic test.

When the droid finished it was commanded to follow, as was Anakin via his collar. The two strangers began to walk off into the night, as Anakin trailed behind, still desperately pleading.

Halfway out of the city the shorter stopped suddenly. 'Something has changed, we are out of time.'  
With no other explanation; the shorter turned and picked up Anakin, carrying him as though he weighed nothing, and effectively stunning him into silence. The taller did the same with the droid a moment later.

Then they ran. They ran fast. Faster than should have been possible.  
In seconds they were outside the city. And still moving, to a chrome ship that was only now visible on the horizon.

A speeder bike was moving to intercept them, racing over sand dunes, casting it's riders cloak back. Revealing under the cloak he was wearing a simple black sleeveless tunic. His skin was a true intense red like heated iron, and it was decorated with a complex swirling pattern of tattoos. He ably turned and twisted to avoid crashing on the sand dunes.

The strangers moved faster, Anakin could hear his captor breathing harder as they pushed themselves even further.  
'Onto the ship' cried his captor.  
The other slowed almost imperceptibly before nodding briefly and moving again.

The rider leaped off his bike, allowing it to crash in a sand dune, soaring into the air.  
The Taller made it onto the ship. The shorter cast Anakin forward into the taller's hands.

The shorter turned, ignited their lightsaber and intercepted the strike from the now ex-rider.  
Blue clashed against Red and the air was filled with the howl of two lightsabers clashing against each other.  
The shorter then pushed back against the rider's weight and launched him into the sand.

The taller lept to the pilots seat, vaulting over the table and began the takeoff sequence, all while Anakin stared agape at the two combatants.

The rider lunged with their red sabre, beginning an engagement too fast for Anakin to follow.  
Anakin's captor proved themselves capable, swinging their sabre to their left and right parrying every blow as the rider's pace increased throwing cuts and thrusts seemingly at random, each one with killing intent.

Until at last the pilot shouted 'Master, now!'

Anakin's captor leapt back, somersaulting over the rider's incoming blow, sabre already moving to block the follow up thrust. They landed on the ship's boarding ramp, before extending a hand dramatically at their foe.  
The rider for his part attempted to chase, but as that hand was raised, it was as if all their momentum had disappeared and a great force had begun to push them back.  
The rider could only stare with raw unconcealable hatred at their foe, as the ship took off.


	2. The New Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin gets to know and come to terms with the people who bought him

As the ship reached the upper atmosphere, Anakin's captor collapsed. The boarding ramp was raised and the ship was sealed for space travel.

Anakin could still only just process what had happened.  
'You're a Jedi?' he asked the collapsed form, hardly expecting a response.

'Yes we are, kid' the pilot responded. At some point they had discarded their over robes and were now in a respectable flight suit, though it was clearly old and had seen a lot of misuse and repairs.  
'I'm Obi Wan Kenobi, that's my master Qui Gon Jinn' he explained, before turning and looking at the clearly overwhelmed child.  
He sighed, flicked a few switches and left the pilot seat. 'Come on, let's get some food.'  
'Are...are they going to be all right?'  
'They'll come around in a few, then will join us in the mess room.'

At first, Anakin didn't recognise it as food. It was solid for one thing, and an array of colours, pinks, blues, greens, yellows and browns (though not the beige he was used to).

Obi Wan filled a bowl from the buffet, as he explained to Anakin which foods were safe for him to consume, and which were for other species.  
'We try to keep everything on hand, after all we may be informed halfway through flight that we have to go to some backwater planet and pick up a local' he explained.

Anakin nodded, it seemed sensible enough, though Obi Wan had yet to show him where the slaves would eat.  
Obi Wan paused, looked at him piercingly, before laughing and shaking his head 'no no, you eat with us. And you aren't a slave anymore either. Eat your fill.'

This seemed like a trap to Anakin. But a lifetime's experience had taught him that it was unavoidable, if he refused to eat he would get beaten for not following orders, if he ate he would get beaten for not knowing his place.   
Cautiously he picked up a bowl, and took something small from the buffet. He sat and slowly began to nibble as any second the trap would slam shut.  
It didn't.  
Anakin finished the morsel.

He stood up and began to fill his bowl in earnest this time. The bowl was half full when Qui Gon walked in. Anakin turned and bowed in a panic, dropping the bowl. Qui Gon lunged forward and caught the bowl in an upturned palm.  
He rose and had placed the bowl on the table before Anakin realised he hadn't heard the bowl hit the floor.

The room was silent. Anakin waited. Qui Gon reached forward, slowly this time. Anakin braced himself for the strike, and Qui Gon removed the slave collar.  
Anakin started backward, as a weight he had never consciously felt was released. Qui Gon took a long glass filled with something free from the buffet and sat down opposite Obi Wan.

The two shared a long look as Anakin began to process what just happened. By the time Anakin had sat down with a full bowl of food they were calmly sitting and drinking as if all was well.

The meal was eaten in silence. Anakin ate fast, used to a rigid schedule and he was unconsciously expecting the food to be taken away at any minute. Qui Gon took slow measured sips of his drink. Obi Wan ate in a relaxed fashion.

Halfway through Anakin's third bowl, Obi Wan got up.  
'We'll be making the jump to lightspeed soon, I should be in the pilot's seat for it just in case' he vocalised to the room, for Anakin's benefit.

He left. The silence returned.

When it became clear Anakin had finished eating it was Qui Gon's turn to speak: 'I am sorry. We truly couldn't have taken your mother.'  
The boy looked at him 'Why not? You handed those credits over as if they were nothing; you even bought a droid as well!'  
'A terrible tragedy would have occured. I cannot explain what or why, but if we had tried to leave with your mother as well, neither you nor your mother would have left alive'. Qui Gon gesticulated with the hand not holding his drink.

Anakin accepted this.  
'So why did you buy me?'  
Qui Gon paused and weighed the child before him up.  
'The Jedi have a prophecy. We don't know who wrote it or when. Among other things, some of which have already come to pass it tells of a child; born with immense gifts, and who will one day return the Force to balance.'

'What's the Force? And what does this have to do with me?'

'The Force is all around us and permeates everything, it causes the smallest molecule to stick together and tears the largest stars apart. And this has everything to do with you, because you are the prophesied child. You have all the signs: You have already used the force in ways you don't even realise that have sent ripples across the galaxy.  
It's how we found you Anakin, and it's how we know that you will grow up to be the greatest Jedi who has ever lived.' There was a quiet conviction in Qui Gon's voice, a surety you could bounce rocks off. The longer he talked the clearer it was, until it was utterly unmistakable.

Anakin didn't want to press the issue further, and instead asked to be directed to his sleeping quarters.

He woke up to alarms.


End file.
